Mark of a Hero
by lemony.club
Summary: What makes a Hero? It was a simple question, but not many people knew the answer to, and even fewer people had the virtues of a hero. In a world full of extraordinary people with extraordinary powers, striving to do the right thing day in day out, then why so many lacked the definition of being a hero? Perhaps he should show them what a true hero should be!


**Mark of a Hero (NarutoxTatsumaki)**

This story is a work of fiction. All the characters, names and places belong to their respective owners.

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 **=[Mark of a Hero]=  
Prologue**

The heaven trembled. Cloud dispersed, and the earth fractured. Building collapsed. Everywhere on the ground, there were bodies, unmoving and bloodied. Collateral damage, they were. The clashes between God and man easily rendered the world asunder, and it was difficult to prevent unwanted death even if they both had tried to do so initially.

"You're like the strongest human I had ever faced. It's seriously awesome," Naruto admitted excitedly as he landed on a still standing rooftop. Looking across the bottomless chasm at him on the other side was a bald young man with an impassive expression. The young man was wearing what appeared to be yellow pajama with a white cape attached around his shoulders.

His name was Saitama, also known as Caped Baldy – a hero moniker. He was a hero, for fun.

"Huh? What's wrong? You can't talk?" Naruto questioned when Saitama opened his mouth and gaped repeatedly. No words could be heard.

Saitama became frustrated after the third failed attempts. "Why doesn't it work?"

"Ah, it doesn't matter," Naruto chuckled. "I'm going to beat you to a pulp just because everyone wanted to see us battle for real! Bring it on!"

When Naruto referred to everyone, he wasn't referring to those that were watching their battle. It was more like those that were reading it. In any case, Naruto decided he would put the best show he could on. He would muster all of his natural powers and abilities to kill the strongest hero in this universe. It was a fun universe, filled with weird, eccentric people with redundant names.

The world quivered as his dark blue eyes sharpened. Debris and wreckages levitated around the building he stood upon. They spiraled into the sky like the beginning of a tornado. And with a gesture of his hand forwards, they surged and converged towards Saitama. They were being propelled by an unseen force – heavenly attraction of all things, basically gravity. He could manipulate gravity at ease.

Saitama stared blankly ahead, unconcerned for the amount of projectiles intending to squash him. He muttered something inaudibly and took his fighting stance. Unleashing a barrage of punches into the air, the debris exploded into dust from the resulting shockwave. His fist did not come into contact with the debris. Despite not even aiming at the ground, the earth below was torn apart, forming a tsunami of concrete and twisted metal.

"Oh…!?" Naruto looked upwards while the sun was blocked out. The tsunami swooped down at him and continued onwards. It washed across the ruined city and crushed everything within its path. Anything that was still standing when the fight began was flattened instantly. Anyone who was still alive on the street was now under piles of rubbles, dead or dying.

"Damn," Naruto said as large amount of wreckage flung upwards and away. From the hole he'd created, he hovered into the air without a single scratch on his person or robe-like attire. He stood in the air as if it was solid ground and looked down at his opponent, standing on the ground.

Saitama gave him a blank look, which Naruto responded with a dismissive shrug.

"What? I can fly," Naruto called out. "My power is way more awesome than magneto. I mean I can manipulate gravity to push me into the air instead of magnetism. Cool huh?"

"Who is that?" Saitama asked, but no words came out of his mouth.

"Just some ultra-powerful dude who somehow gets his ass kicked around by a bunch of idiots and a bald guy in a wheel chair. Well, I tell you more about him later," Naruto said and thrust his palm at Saitama. A blast of energy came forth, slamming against everything in front of him.

Feeling the attack, Saitama leaped into the air and punched something that his eyes could not see. The wave split into thousands smaller one upon impact, and each one turned whatever they collided on the ground into flattened slab of wreckage.

"Ultra-Serious Punch!" Saitama pronounced inaudibly as he reached Naruto. His fist turned Naruto into a twinkling star in the sky.

Saitama landed back on the ground and before he could do anything, his arm was raised instinctively. He attempted to block an axe kick that came from above, originated in space. The attack broke through his guard, and the ground beneath his feet was no more. It was vaporized by the powerful energy pressure radiating downwards, creating yet another bottomless chasm.

Naruto repeated the kick, sending Saitama into the pitch-black hole before forming a black orb between his palms. The air was suck into the sphere as it swirled into size.

"Here, you go," Naruto said and threw it into the dark chasm. Only seconds later, an intense blast of air emerged from within. It was powerful enough to bat someone like him away. And before he could re-orientate himself in air, the earth broke apart. The world began to crumple inwards, revealing a newly formed black hole within its core.

Saitama was at its center, seemingly frozen in time.

"Umm…" Naruto muttered and flew into the time-dilation field and event horizon of a black hole instead of waiting billions of years for Saitama to escape. When inside, their fists collided repeatedly, blasting all matters outwards with each collision. The energy they had unleashed dissipated the singularity before it could swell anymore in size.

Returning to normal space, Naruto inhaled deeply while Saitama held his breath. He couldn't breathe in space. In contrast, Naruto didn't really need to breath. God didn't need to.

"Ahahaha! I win," Naruto called out and hovered away from the debris field of a planet at light speed; at greater than light speed. He could have just teleported, but he didn't have any destination in mind. Soon enough, Saitama passed out due to lack of oxygen. Despite his invulnerability, he couldn't survive in the void of space.

"Not again!" Saitama called out when the television screen displayed his loss. "No one should have that many abilities!"

"But I do," Naruto responded as he tapped on his control, putting in his name after the screen showed his victory for the umpteenth of time. He was on his longest strike ever since he learned how to play the game without breaking the control.

"T-I-T, hehehe," Naruto snickered at the screen full of TIT. It returned to the selection screen afterwards, but there were only five characters to choose from the roster. "Do you want to see them all? I'm sure the Earth would be nothing but a memory in a minute, maybe less. One black hole is all it takes to wipe out a planet."

Saitama gave a lazy look.

Instead of destroying Earth when fighting each other, they decided it was best to fight in a video game instead. But in every fight, Saitama lost not because he was outright defeated, but his character couldn't survive in an inhospitable environment according to the gaming code. And once the battlefield – virtual earth – was destroyed, his lost was assured.

"Can you make him weaker, Genos?" Saitama asked.

"He's already handicapped, you know?" Kurama pointed out while Genos continued to adjust the little fighting games they were making. "Genos said it's impossible to program all of his abilities into a single character. It would lag too much. And if he could, it would be considered as cheating."

"Like it's not cheating already," Naruto snorted and pointed at Saitama. "He got invulnerable, and his status is always above his opponents, meaning he can't be defeated in a direct fight. How do I actually kill him like that?"

"He can't be killed," Kurama said.

"I know that, but he should," Naruto said. "Everyone should!"

"Well, he can't. Word of God said he can't," Kurama responded.

"Fucking infinite," Naruto muttered. Saitama's power was said to be infinite – or as powerful as the plot demanded. "Plot armors, I swear!"

"More like a gag," Kurama deadpanned.

Naruto chuckled. It was a gag manga.

"What are you two talking about? And why are you taking over my room," King questioned. He decided to speak up. Not only Saitama had stayed at his place for the last two days, there were now three more people with two of them he had never seen before.

"Doesn't have your name on it," Naruto snorted.

"It's on the door. Where is the door?" King asked when he realized the front door was gone.

"Ummm… it was cold, we used it as firewood," Naruto said. That made no sense. He just wanted to burn thing. "By the way, what is his power level, Kurama?"

"Scanning," Kurama said. It beamed at King. "Urm…? It's over – 9,000 J! Incredible."

"Really?" Naruto gasped in astonishment. "Wait, what? Isn't a Joule is like –?"

A Joule was really, really small. His strike contained trillions, trillions, trillions times more energy, enough to knock a planet out of its orbit. Anyone hit with that much raw destructive power would be atomized instantly. Everyone one in this universe would except for Saitama – because of plot. It was also because of his unique ability, granted by the almighty God One and his first born, Murata.

Saitama could kill anything with a single punch if he was motivated enough. His fist contained enough energy to turn the receiving into a pool of blood regardless of how powerful they were, Naruto included. But Naruto couldn't die.

"So he's normal," Naruto said, "with a heart condition. You should really get that check out."

King nodded and watched the new match started on the screen, wondering why he was on the roster at all. For a fighting game, it was incredible unbalanced. Three of the fighters were invulnerable to most attack, not to mention one of them was an animal.

"Hey, Genos! Can we get some female fighters already?" Naruto asked when he beat Saitama using the same trick. "There are five so far, and they are all dudes. I want to rape – I mean beat up some girls and see some awesome physic."

"Physic?" Genos questioned.

"He meant jiggle physic," Kurama pointed out and left it at that. "By the way, who is the strongest amongst the heroes?"

"The strongest female is Tatsumaki, commonly known as Tornado of Terror," Genos said.

"Sounds hot," Naruto said. "What are her powers?"

"She's an esper," Saitama said and selected himself on the selection screen. He was sure he could win under his own strength.

"So, physic? I mean psychic?" Naruto questioned. He pondered what Tatsumaki looked like for a short moment before getting off the seat. "Need to take a leak. You take over, King."

King shrugged and picked up the control. He selected himself even if the character had no supernatural power. Ten minutes later, he was putting in his name in the high score list.

"This game is rigged!" Saitama called out.

Meanwhile, Naruto was holding a bank hostage a town over with a gun. Everyone was dreadful as they lined up against the wall. "Try and stop me, Hero Association! Ahahahahhaha! Bring out your strongest hero! I mean the strongest female hero. I don't want to see any dudes!"

Of course, a bunch of dudes came when they heard about the robbery. They were promptly knocked out and tied up when trying to confront Naruto, increasing the amount of hostages he had in total. "Alright, you four can go."

"You're letting us go?" The four girls asked.

"Yeah. They kept sending me more hostages even though I said I don't want anymore. And here, please take some money. You looked like you needed," Naruto said. The money was insured anyway. They did as he said when he was waving his gun at them. "I wish they would send some S-class heroes to stop me already."

"Umm… S-class doesn't handle petty robbery," one of the girls said. "They handle monsters."

"Eh…?" Naruto uttered. "So monsters, huh… hmmm…" He was about to open a dimensional portal to grab Kurama from King's place, but decided against it. Having gigantic nine-tail beasts roaming the city would definitely bring attention. Unfortunately, Kurama would squash a lot of people, making him have to revive them.

Naruto thought for a moment before grinning madly. His blue eyes changed into slit while the whiskered mark on his face thickened. He took on a sinister appearance in front of everyone including the camera's crew outside. To increase the ferocity of his appearance, an energy overcoat enveloped his body, giving him nine tails in total. He used the tails to rip apart the floor and crushing it into rubbles

"Come and stop me before I rip apart all the hostages," Naruto said in a deep, dark tone. "Ahahahaa!"

No one came. Well, one did. It was a brat with curly green hair. They requested S-Class heroes in the area, but King and Genos said they were busy when they saw the news with Naruto in it. On the other hand, Saitama was busy mastering his character against an AI. The other S-Class Heroes were too far away to reach the situation in time. Tatsumaki could since she could fly over.

"Okay, I'm in a good mood today," Tatsumaki said. She didn't want to kill something that resembled too much like a human. If he was actually a monster, she would get it over with already. She pointed at him and announced: "I'm going to let you go if you surrender."

"Seriously?" Naruto asked and walked back and forth, disappointed. "What the fuck is wrong with Hero Association? Aren't they supposes to stop monsters? I'm a monster and they sent a brat instead? Well, she is an esper. She flew here. How many espers are there in total?"

Tatsumaki hovered there, blinkingly. Her finger was still pointing at him, but he paid her no mind.

"Maybe I should kill a few to make a point, but then I have to revive them, not to mention the shock to their psych…" Naruto pondered his options. He didn't really think it through when he decided to have some fun. It sounded awesome in his mind back at the apartment. He would incited trouble so he could meet some powerful girls.

"H-hey…. Are you listening?"

"Well, I could erase that part of their memory afterwards," Naruto continued. "Sounds like a lot of work just to meet them. Maybe I should just go straight to their place instead?"

"Hey! Hey!" Tatsumaki called out. "A-are you ignoring me?"

Naruto sighed. He paid attention to her. "Go home, brat. I'm not playing wit –

His sentence was abruptly cut off. He went flying against the wall and pinned there by an invisible force similar to his ability. His eyes were full of shock. The shock vanished a second later.

"Unforgiveable. No one called me a brat," Tatsumaki said. The titles were hovering inches from the floor all around her. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Ummm… wait, I know this one. A loli?" Naruto responded.

Tatsumaki slammed him against the ground and then the ceiling. "I'm 28!"

"So, a fake loli?" Naruto snorted. He went flying against several walls like a human yoyo. He admitted that her power was impressive, but throwing him only made him nausea. Not to mention, she caused more damage to the building than he did.

"I am not a loli!" Tatsumaki growled and blasted him out of the building at a skyward angle. She ignored the hostages and flew through to chase after him.

"Ummm… yes, you are. Your chest is flat, and you look like a little kid despite being 28," Naruto said and stopped in midair. He didn't think she was 28. She was 11 or 12 – tops. "If that isn't the definition of a fake loli then what is it?"

"I'm not a loli!" Tatsumaki shouted angrily. She sent out a psychic blast. It missed.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said and stabilized himself in the air after the evasion. He looked at the horizon to where the hero association headquarter was located. "I'm not playing anymore. Go home or I will spank your ass."

"Spank my ass…!?" Tatsumaki uttered. Her eyes flared. "You're dead."

"Right –!" His neck was snapped. His head was rotated around to the back. "Ow!"

"…" Tatsumaki blinked, allowing him enough time to snap his head back into place. "How are you still alive?"

"Did you just try to kill me?" Naruto asked. He wouldn't die from that, but what if it was someone else, she could have killed them. "For that, I'm going to spank you for real!"

Her power erupted. Since he was floating in the air, he was also an Esper. But she was the strongest in the world. No one was stronger than her. "Know your place, inferior!"

"I know my place," Naruto responded as he felt an incredible force gripping his body, holding him in place. She tried to crush him, and if he was a normal person, he would be turn into a bloody chunk in an instant.

"Do you?" Naruto added as his nine tails surged forwards. Being energy construct, they were immune to everything except energy-based techniques. Telepathic power weren't energy-based. His tails grabbed her before she could move. "It's spanking time!"

"I'm going to kill you, you bastard!" Tatsumaki shouted when one of the tails spanked her ass while the rest held her in place. She increased her strength, causing his body to twist slightly.

"Like you haven't already," Naruto snorted and resisted the torsion force. It was trying to twist his body into a gruesome work of art. He didn't want to be a work of art. "Stop that! I'm stronger than you."

"Shut up, inferior! If it's wasn't for these weird thing, I could have beaten you!" Tatsumaki retorted. "I'm stronger than you. I'm older than you!"

Naruto sighed. "You know what? Since you acting like a stupid spoiled brat, I'm going to turn you into one! Maybe you can learn to use your power wisely then." His hand rose. His finger drew along the air, forming a symbol. He slammed the symbol into her abdomen, causing her to gasp in pain. "There, have fun being a brat."

When Naruto flew away, Tatsumaki quickly gave chase, but found her speed had dropped significantly.

And when he vanished in the distance, she found it was harder to keep staying in the air. She landed on the ground to check the reason why. Everything around her felt bigger than usual. It was odd.

"My limbs are smaller…?" Tatsumaki realized and looked at the glass window and dropped her jaw. She was a little kid – about six or seven years old. Her dress barely hanging on her tiny body, and with her state of regression, so was her power. She was severely weakened.

"You bastard!" Tatsumaki shouted at the sky. "I'm going to kill you, what-ever-your-name-is!"

 **– Discontinued –**

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It's not one-shot, but there are no more chapters after this one. Don't really have time to write like 500k words story. Maybe someone will take it up. I'll write an epilogue by skipping or expositing everything in between just to give you followers some closure, only if there are like dozens of interesting review. One liner doesn't count.

This story was written to get rid of plot bunnies. They won't leave me alone! It also is to give context to lemony scene between Naruto and Tatsumaki.


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